Hello. Though not a devotee of the .380 ACP, I do think some of the pistols firing the round are interesting. One is Beretta's single-stack Model 85F.

This pistol was slightly used when I purchased it at a good price. I may never use it for any "serious" purpose but that doesn't mean that others would make the same decision.

With its 8-round magazine and one in the barrel, this conventional DA/SA pistol is capable of 9 shots before reloading is mandatory.

Thus far, the gun has proven itself reliable with a number of factory loads from 95-gr. FMJ to various JHP's from Federal Classic 90-gr. JHP to Corbon's 80-gr. DPX and others.

The pistol is not the most compact in Mr. Browning's pocket cartridge but to me it is one of the more comfortable. Felt recoil, admittedly a subjective quantity, is by no means excessively sharp, heavy or any of the other negative descriptors sometimes assigned blowback actions...at least not to me.

The pistol's mechanical accuracy was quite satisfactory and two typical groups are shown on a single target below.

The two groups here were fired slow-fire and single-action from both 7 and 15 yards. I had my wrists braced and was in a sitting position at a bench. No effort was made at speed for these shots. At the closer distance POA was close enough to POI that I just aimed dead-on. At 15 yards, I found that a six-o'-clock hold kept the POA from being a tad too high. Shots fired at 7 yards are marked with a single-line. Those fired at 15 yards are circled. Most of the two groups overlap. Obviously, the spread & flyers are due to human error...mine!

Next I tried some more "practical" drills including a version of Mr. Higginbotham's standard controllability test for handguns.